From: Julia Kveton Apodaca, long-time listener and contributor
Date: December 26, 2009

Re: The decline of KUT

During the recent fall 2009 on-air pledge drive, announcers and volunteer fundraisers noted how many contributors are second-generation NPR listeners who grew up hearing KUT on their parents’ radios. I didn’t have that opportunity. I grew up on a farm outside of Lubbock, and our radio was always tuned to KFYO, which had farm and weather reports, a local talk show hosted by Big Ed Wilkes, syndicated shows like Arthur Godfrey, and popular music of my parents’ generation (though my parents weren’t big fans of pop music; their record collection was comprised primarily of classical music). When my siblings and I were teenagers and got our own radio, there were only three other choices, all of them commercial: top-40 country/western, top-40 rock/pop, and top-40 Spanish.

So when I moved to Austin in 1980 and discovered KUT, it was a revelation. A life-changing experience. It opened up whole new worlds for me. I would curl up with my radio by my ear and go to sleep with it at night so as to not miss a minute.

But I am dismayed and disheartened at the insidious incremental changes that have occurred at KUT, especially in the last few years. KUT’s new slogan of “local, independent, supported by you” is evocative of the doublespeak trumpeted by the new breed of politicians and commentators who create their own “reality” by repeatedly shouting their own beliefs. Indeed, there is some truth in that slogan, but given the widespread dissatisfaction that came to a head with the unceremonious chopping of Larry Monroe’s and Paul Ray’s on-air hours, it sounds more like wishful thinking.

Erin Geisler et al.’s gloating about how the “backlash” had no effect on the recent fundraiser fails to account for those who who contributed specifically during (what remains of) Larry’s and Paul’s shows as an indication of solidarity, or those who contributed because they believe that doing so gives them leverage (or at least the right to complain), or simply the natural increase due to Austin’s burgeoning population (and many of the newcomers don’t have the historical perspective to compare and evaluate the “new” KUT with the “old” KUT).

The KUT fundraisers exhort us to contribute if we like what we hear. I’m hearing less and less that I like (and thus listening less), so I did not contribute this time, but I am going to complain anyway, even if (as others have pointed out) it’s tantamount to shouting at a brick wall, because I believe that having been a loyal contributor for decades gives me the right and the obligation to do so.

You cannot honestly say that KUT is a non-commercial radio station. With ever-more-frequent underwriting announcements becoming more elaborate and obtrusive, inane vehicle donation announcements replayed incessantly, and even listeners’ support spots advertising their businesses, KUT has become essentially a commercial station that masquerades as something else. It’s also disingenuous to start asking for donations weeks ahead of the on-air pledge drive as a way to “keep the pledge drive short” when in reality it’s simply making the pledge drive weeks longer.

KUT’s news department is utterly superfluous, a waste of resources and air time. There is NOTHING on KUT news that I cannot get from the Austin American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Austin Film Society, Texas Observer, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, or any number of news websites, local and otherwise, including some devoted to covering the Texas Legislature.

The amount of air time taken up by community volunteer announcements (noble though they may be), KUT news, listener support spots, and screamingly irksome vehicle donation announcements, combined, is considerable. I would prefer that time be given to unfettered John Aeilli, Larry Monroe, and Paul Ray for music. Or more Horizontes (which used to air every weekday afternoon!).

Why is KUT using its valuable air time to play music that can already be heard on commercial stations? It’s not bad music; it’s just that playing it relentlessly on KUT is redundant. Nowadays, much of what you hear on KUT is the same music you can hear on other stations such as KGSR. But on those stations, you most likely won’t hear the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir, the Tuva throat singers, Flora Purim, Gavin Bryars, the Backyard Mbiras, Mary Schneider, Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere, MacUmba, the Golden Arm Trio, Ebeneezer Obey, Les Barker, Taraf de Haidouks, or a rambling, revealing, touching, hilarious, heartbreaking interview with Townes VanZandt by Larry Monroe. You won’t hear (the late, great) Dan del Santo interview Fela Kuti and broach the topic of polygyny. You won’t hear Paul Ray’s voice crack when talking about his friend and former bandmate Stevie Ray Vaughn on the day SRV died. You won’t hear the magnificent John Aelli interview the consummate interviewer Terry Gross. Or any other one-of-a-kind magical moments that you would only hear on KUT, like the time that Larry Monroe hosted a spectacular, transcendent Easter Sunday Liveset with Willie Nelson and his band some years ago. When Willie asked, near the end of the hour, if they could continue playing, Larry, without hesitation, encouraged them to play as long as they liked, and they did—long past the end of Liveset and well into Larry’s Texas Radio show. I am doubtful that David Brown would have had the instinct or humility to give such free rein without a second thought if he had been hosting.

KUT wouldn’t need to add a Sunday Folkways if it hadn’t turned the real Folkways into Kevin Conner’s Playlist (which includes some folk music). And KUT management wouldn’t need the damage control of having Ed Miller and Tom Pittman (both marvelous hosts) point out that they handpick the music they play if management wasn’t telling DJs what to play. Sunday Folkways is fabulous, but it bumped another great program, American Routes, to the graveyard shift, where I’ll never hear it again. KUT has had a bad habit in recent years of bumping wonderful shows like AfroPop, Femme FM, Mountain Stage, and Texas Radio to the graveyard shift and then scuttling them altogether.

Finally, I would like to say that if KUT would like to make enough money to render all fundraisers unnecessary, they could bundle all of Rebecca McInroy’s excruciatingly annoying vehicle donation announcements and sell them to the CIA or Department of Defense, which could use them to torture confessions out of hardened criminals and suspected terrorists.

I am not against change. If I didn’t like change, I never would have left Lubbock, nor would I have traveled to or lived in seven foreign countries. I delight in many of the changes that have occurred in Austin in these past three decades. We bought a little house near South Congress almost 25 years ago because we looked closely and saw signs of the beginning of changes in the neighborhood—for the better. But some of the recent changes at KUT make it a worse, not a better, public radio station. The new management and their management model are ill-fitted to public radio in general and to KUT in particular.

I would like to see a return to the kind of brilliant programming that KUT used to produce with significantly smaller budgets—and an end to the arrogant, top-heavy management that seems concerned only with raising more money.

In a heart-felt letter to contributors, KUT’s Stewart Vanderwilt once waxed poetic about the mission of public radio:

“KUT is . . . a community for music lovers. From adult rock to folk, from blues to world music, KUT seeks out music that isn’t promoted, packaged, or hyped. Music you wouldn’t find without us. . . .

KUT is a community of people like you – principled and independent, curious and intelligent. People who cherish their rights as individuals to think, speak and act for themselves. Citizens who get involved when they know that they can make a difference”

Whoa, whoa. Hold the phone. It’s hard times in the land of plenty, and things have changed. And, as Hawk Mendenhall has noted, “change is never easy for anyone.” The soft spin today is of “hand-picked” and “home-grown” music, seeking to blunt the attack of concerned citizens who think they can make a difference, who would challenge the assertions of “home-picked” numbers trotted out as proof.

But numbers are funny things, and can be stacked in endless variety for innumerable objectives. Piled straight up and down, the numbers show a disturbing trend, for those who cherish their radio: Today public radio is in trouble, as noted in the research project “Audience 2010”:

While 93% of Americans use radio each week, the typical American is listening less today than any time in modern history. Americans now average 19.5 hours of listening per week, compared to more than 22 hours just 10 yrs ago. Public radio listeners have been yielding radio listening at an even faster rate – about 25 minutes per week per year. Today they listen to radio four hours a week less than ten years ago. Studies have shown that the loss in public radio corresponds to an increase in regular FM listening – public radio is losing listening time to FM radio.

And as the 2009 Mid-Year Report for the University Station Alliance (an organization for university-licensed stations, which make up 63% of the public radio system) reports, “The more a member listens the more they give.” These are definitely numbers that give pause to stations like KUT with their manifest-destiny model of management.

In part, the problems can be traced to the struggles of NPR flagship programs “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” whose listenership has remained “flat” or actually declined since 2002 (“Grow the Audience,” funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, see chart here). (Keep in mind that the word “flat” is the descriptor used to characterize ratings for Phil Music and Paul Ray’s Jazz over the time period.) These struggles are particularly vexing for public radio, given the makeup of the radio-listening day, in general, which changes little from year to year (“Public Radio Today,” 2009 edition, see chart).

Note that listening is high for the morning and evening drive times, dipping slightly to plateau in between, then diving precipitously in the evening to near zero overnight. From a strictly economic viewpoint, it’s easy to see why KUT would want to put a canned show like “Undercurrents,” which costs $3,000 a year, into the overnight time slot rather than pay a live deejay. Times are tough, right? And nobody listens then anyway — despite Hawk’s spinning it as some sort of failure on the part of a Larry Monroe or a Paul Ray (after they’d been shunted into these time spots). Even the popular show “Car Talk” — the most successful show on public radio — failed miserably when aired on a Monday evening, and Vanderwilt noted in a January 2002 Austin Chronicle article that KUT was the only station in the top 150 where it was a “failure,” necessitating the move to Saturday morning.

A look at the money raised during the spring fundraiser will give you an idea of what draws the support of Austin listeners (see spring fund drive chart from open records, courtesy Austin Airwaves, below). The big haul comes during those peak morning-to-afternoon hours (indeed, the “goal” for “Morning Edition” on the last day of the fall fund drive was $55,000), with the NPR news shows drawing the lion’s share, and recent “retiree” John Aielli’s Eklektikos close behind. Music shows on the far side of the evening drive times show rapidly diminishing returns — and expectations, given the goals. If, as “KUT member services” suggested, they wished to “change the evening music programming on three weeknights in hopes of duplicating the success of our popular daytime music,” that ostensibly might lead to all Aielli all the time (and, in fact, classical listeners represent public radio’s most loyal supporters). But management has other ideas.

In fact, the flattening of the public radio growth curve and a ratings seepage to commercial FM radio provide a blithe rationale behind the moves of KUT management, a management that wants to keep growing the pie, making it not just number one in Austin, but in the cosmos. As noted in the article “How Much Is Enough?”, the Vanderwilt vision encompasses expensive, dicey new technologies like HD radio (see “Is KUT Throwing Your Money Down a Rat Hole?” and “Canned Music”) , a whole new level of high-paid executives (the “best and the brightest”), a brand-new building, and more radio stations (despite the failings of the San Angelo station, KUT has applications in for two new stations, says Jim Radio). That’s the price of progress station donors are paying.

There is a hint of desperation in the changes to KUT this year, with cost-cutting moves made despite repeated record-setting pledge drives. A whole lot of “vision” has to be funded each year — not to mention the 65-odd positions in the station workforce. Why would management otherwise make such sweeping changes, possibly endangering an existing demographic in the upheaval, incurring the wrath of longtime listeners, gambling on a new demographic, and decimating what has been the money-making core of local deejays? Some insight may be gained in the pages of a report from the Radio Research Consortium entitled “Audience 2010”:

Managing the business of public service was difficult enough while listening and revenues continued to rise. It will be exceptionally challenging when both are stagnant. Development professionals will be called on to earn more from listeners per listener-hour – a feat they’ve heretofore been unable to sustain. Programmers will be called upon to generate more public service per programming dollar – putting pressure on high cost, low return local programming.

Management initiatives that presume audience and revenue growth over the long term will be called upon to prove out sooner, or be adjusted mid-course, or be abandoned. As an industry, we seem to be at a real point of inflection. We might wait a couple years to be sure, but by then it may be too late. If listener-sensitive resources do not grow, our ability to invest in new endeavors will be limited.

The threat of a downward spiral looms. The reinvigoration of public service and public support calls for clear foresight and able management.

In this report, we address the central finding that public radio is no longer a growth industry. Or at least it won’t be for the immediate future, as its ability to earn listener-sensitive revenues (particularly individual giving) is predicated on (and predicted by) listening. This finding has significant ramifications for those used to budgeting on the presumption of financial growth.

This presumption of financial growth has been the hallmark of current KUT management. The hope is, of course, that this ambition doesn’t bankrupt our public radio station as it did the Indiana station Stewart Vanderwilt left to come here. As noted by the GM succeeding him in Indiana:

The Online 1999-2001 Biennial Report that you see before you is an attempt to keep an earlier promise to Indiana Public Radio’s members and supporters. The previous general manager, Stewart Vanderwilt, promised that Indiana Public Radio would annually provide a broad financial report about the radio station. That promise has been altered by circumstance.

WBST has been a success almost from its inception. The thing about success is that it inevitably leads to a new idea, how to make something successful even more successful. An idea always looks good on paper. And the idea that looks good on paper should work when it’s implemented, but that’s not always the case. In 1997 the idea was to expand WBST, creating Indiana Public Radio by adding four transmitters in new communities. It was believed that the new communities would respond as favorably to their new stations as Delaware County had to WBST. When this idea was implemented, IPR had the financial reserves to cover the multiple transmitter costs and absorb the added expense; on paper, it looked as if new membership would soon establish itself in those new communities, thus recouping the initial investment. . . .

Rather than fantastic financial growth, the past two years at IPR have been about retrenching and reallocating resources. The financial reserves are now gone. Several staff positions have not been filled. So, we did not attempt an annual report last year, but we want to recognize the people who carry the station financially, especially during tough times.

John Conquest, writing for Ragblog, was not so charitable:

The top KUT managers came to Austin from Indiana (where GM Stewart Vanderwilt saddled WBST with massive debts — ironically, the station where Larry Monroe started his radio career), Utah, Vermont and Alabama, and will doubtless depart when they get better offers elsewhere, the point being that they have no roots, hence no understanding of local tradition.

Careerists, whose priorities are ratings and fundraising, use standard industry strategies — if this worked in Seattle, it’ll work here — too bad if shows that have long been part of the fabric of Austin life become roadkill in the process.

The strategy that seems to be evolving at KUT is emulating KGSR’s AAA programming, with restrictive playlists, heavy to light rotation, so many new album tracks per hour, all the mechanical controls that make the station such horrible, repetitive shit. The fatal flaw in this, of course, is that there’s already one KGSR and it doesn’t hit you up for money every five minutes.

Only don’t use the word “playlist,” as Hawk and minions take great offense. This is nothing but semantic obfuscation. Okay, so maybe he doesn’t call it a “playlist,” but the deejays operate under strict rules that require them to include selected tracks from CDs that fall within the categories “heavy rotation,” “light rotation,” “core artists,” and “new arrivals. These CDs are “hand-picked” by The Committee, which includes Hawk, Jeff McCord, and “others from management.” Deejays can suggest, but the committee rules, as far as what goes in the library and which tracks can be played. The assertion that this means deejays are “asked” to play just “a few” of these is disingenuous at best.

Actually, KUT does have what it calls “playlists.” These are the songs played during each shift, and they can be found at the KUT website. Easily deduced is where this music is drawn from, as you can check the lists yourself. You can see, for instance, that KUT reports to Americana Music Association and Triple A Radio, where KUT appears on “The Panel.” You wondered why you’re hearing Pearl Jam on the public radio station? There it is, in black and white. Perhaps more interesting is a perusal of the list of hot sellers from Waterloo Records, another source for the committee. Simply put, much of the music is drawn from what’s selling in AAA radio, Americana music, and at Waterloo Records. Which, naturally, limits these lists to consumers with what those in the mangled middle class jokingly refer to as “disposable income.”

“On the Media” details many more problems associated with this kind of buyers’ list, not the least of which is an underground economy that doesn’t pay for music (half of all teenagers, for instance, didn’t buy one CD last year). Eric Garland, whose company tracks legal and illegal downloads, streams on MySpace and YouTube, merchandise sold on tours, and more, says, “If we’re just talking about the breadth of the audience and not the depth of interest, I don’t think we’re really getting at the value of the music.” And as OTM’s Eric Garland notes: “If you look at the top of the airplay charts, the top of the sales charts, how many songs, on average, do you think people are interested in from those artists? . . . It’s about 1.1.” In other words, they conclude, the average artist on top of the charts is a one-hit wonder. This, of course, doesn’t even begin to speak of the limitations on the reach of local Austin acts, say, who aren’t already on the CD-buying public’s radar – a Timbuk3, for instance, an unknown act when Larry Monroe first aired them on his show (as Barbara K notes).

The Man’s Plan

So what does this say of the grand plan to keep the pie growing? The total “take” at KUT has tripled in the past nine years, with the surge in corporate underwriting and “Leadership Circle” largesse, but increased expenses still threaten to outstrip these gains. With the economy as it is, new ways must be found to fund the bangles and baubles of the Vanderwilt vision or face the “downward spiral” warned of in the Audience 2010 report. Sure, listenership at KUT has blossomed, according to Hawk (“doubled,” he says): some 225,000, he claims, with 130,000 listening to music. But in fact, the number of people who actually contribute is a small fraction of whatever shifty Arbitron number you choose to employ (Arbitron warrants a separate story of its own and will be dealt with in a future rendering). And the number of contributors has been shrinking, while the size of the individual donation has been increasing. A worrisome trend, according to Sylvia Carson, marketing and development director at KUT, who said in 2007, “We don’t want it to be an exclusive club.”

But it may be too late for that already. Look at the business memberships on the KUT website — some 700 strong, each giving a minimum of $500 apiece for the honor of being listed and cited during the pledge drive (or a total of a minimum $350,000 a year). Of course, if you’re a business underwriter, the cost goes up to $1,200 minimum and you get the annoying non-ad as well. Look then at the 2007 annual report (the last year finances have been made available to the public) on the website, where you’ll find a list of Leadership Circle names — where the elite come to meet. These folks pay a minimum of $1,200 for that honor, with the 300 strong in 2007 thus ponying up at least $360,000. Throw in the matching pledges from Austin’s captains of industry, and you’re talking a significant chunk of change.

So how do you promote a more egalitarian yet profitable nonprofit? Or do you even care, is more to the point.

“Don’t take your eye off the ball,” Vanderwilt said. “You need to know where your audience really is and why they are coming to you on a daily basis, rather than getting caught up in the Next Big Thing. You need to focus on your content and work to join the next wave, rather than lose your focus and spend your time trying to create one” (“Music Discovery,” by James Careless).

And which next wave is that? Enter AAA radio. In a memo (from the material released in an open-records request), Hawk notes that the station most turned to by listeners when not listening to KUT is KGSR. And since public radio is losing ground to its FM counterparts, this is their next wave. But with an Austin radio listenership, will KUT ride this wave to feed the machine? Consider if you will the average listener of public radio:

Note that the demographic always attached to KUT — 35 to 64 — represents 66% of public-radio listeners, and if you add in older listeners, you’re talking about 90% of all listeners. You can find a similar yet different set of numbers on the KUT website, though they tell a completely different story to potential advertisers. That’s “statistics.” The younger folks, 18 to 34, are seen as much more tech savvy, attuned to new technologies and delivery methods such as iPods and web streaming and listening less to FM radio. (In iTunes alone —a freebie easily downloaded — you can access hundreds and hundreds of radio stations of all genres.) The average age, then, of the public radio listener is 54, with 90% over age 35.

Among the conclusions of the overall Jacobs study were the following:

• AAA fans are younger, less “into” Public Radio exclusively & far more tech-active. They are more apt to own iPods, download podcasts, stream audio and video, text, and participate in social networking sites.
• Classical devotees are older, less enamored by technology. But they are the heaviest radio listeners.
• Clearly, there’s a division within the Public Radio audience that transcends format. The younger and emerging demographics profile quite differently from the 55+ core (which still makes up more than half this sample).
• Stop worrying about satellite radio. Interest is waning and of the many different media/gadget options, it is well down the list.
• HD Radio is challenged. Adoption rates are low & satisfaction trails even satellite radio.

These numbers can be manipulated to fit any agenda: When citing the vaunted AQHs from Arbitron reports, Hawk uses as KUT’s demographic 25 to 54, adding in the 25 to 34 demographic that shows up in this chart as only 9% of public radio listeners — and skewing the results. This has the effect of dropping some of the shows that they “dumped,” as Hawk so daintily says in one of the open-records memos about Paul Ray’s Jazz and Phil Music, from possibly a top-three finish (when the traditional, older demographic is used) down towards the bottom of the Austin ratings — when compared with commercial stations. This, according to Arbitron. This drastic of an effect only illustrates the small size of the sample from which these numbers are drawn, a major criticism of Arbitron diary methods. (Conversely, what size of a sampling of KUT donors — the small fraction of listeners who actually donate — who oppose the radical changes made in Austin’s public radio station would be large enough to influence management decisions?) The inclusion of the 25-34 demographic makes sense in Hawk-speak if you consider one key factor: The 25-54 demographic is considered the prime group in the ad-buying segment of the public.

For the money must keep flowing for this machine to keep running. As one Facebook critic pointed out months back, as long as record money flows in and the awards keep coming, management is safe. Well, the awards will come. How many public radio stations have a million dollars a year to put into local news? Not to disparage the local newsroom employees (who do a good job), but that’s a little like saying Lance Armstrong is the world’s best Tour de France-winning cancer survivor. But money is a problem now, and that’s gotta make some people nervous, especially given some of the chances taken that don’t look so attractive in retrospect.

And the latest gamble bets that young people will flock on board to a AAA “non-commercial” station, wallets in hand, old folks will dry up and blow away (or just keep giving to their public radio), and nobody will think twice about the shabby treatment given the folks who’ve built this station from the ground up. That’s just the way the good old boys do things at the University of Texas, spending millions on a Gutenberg bible or the next famous dead guy’s papers. You got a legendary football coach? Pay him $60,000 a year in perpetuity. We take care of our own (kind).

A bit harsh? You bet. But one hopes that amongst the beneficence funding this latest gamble, there stirs at least a bit of queasiness because of the callous conduct of public radio bidness. Noblesse oblige, indeed. Okay, real harsh. You can’t totally trash affluent supporters who, to their credit, seek to bankroll public radio and the myriad pro bono efforts that have always been a part of the station. National Public Radio, despite what’s seen by some as a drift away from progressive politics, still represents the best news readily available on the radio.

Yet to an extent that’s increasingly more apparent on the local, music side of the equation, the current management is holding the public’s radio hostage with their bottom-line, no-holds-barred approach. You’re with us or you’re agin us . . . This, apparently, is how we do things in the New Austin. And you can’t expect a dean educated in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to learn by osmosis the “institutional memory” (as Peyton Wimmer calls it) that endowed Old Weird Austin. Dean Hart, who ironically is also director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation, is certainly paid well to do his job overseeing the station — some $260,000 a year well. But to put that into the perspective of a UT ethos, that’s about what they pay the football team’s running-backs coach.

Maybe that’s a cheap shot, but the point remains that the dean — and all the well-heeled “leadership” supporters (witness: the $5,000 matching pledge from “anonymous” on the first morning of the pledge drive this fall during “Morning Edition”) — are complicit in these changes. One would hope that at least some of the chablis-and-brie set would feel a bit squeamish at the dispassionate manner in which the KUT “legends” have been shoved out of the way, sacrificed at the altar of corporate solicitude.

But perhaps they’re part and parcel of the attempt at supremacy, enamored of the chance to rub elbows with visiting NPR celebs and share in the glory, however faded it may be in the autumn of the NPR bloom. Recall the quote from the Audience 2010 report: “Management initiatives that presume audience and revenue growth over the long term will be called upon to prove out sooner, or be adjusted mid-course, or be abandoned.” Management hubris, however, has so far been unwilling to admit any error in judgment, and that may prove to be their ultimate undoing.

The grand plan and massive changes once ascribed to a tough economy have now been re-badged as strictly an appeal to a broader Austin audience, “for our own good,” so to speak. You can claim you altruistically desire only to serve more listeners, but how can you know what listeners want if you never ask them – the 100,000 or 300,000 or million listeners, and not the handful of monied supporters — relying instead on your take of a defective rating system for commercial radio stations? (The legally beset Arbitron PPM system, touted as a major improvement over the diary system used here — and giving far different results — itself carries this disclaimer: “PPM ratings are based on audience estimates and are the opinion of Arbitron and should not be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of a demographic or radio market.”)

Truth be told, the upheaval is just the latest management gamble in the heretofore frustrated ambition of empire building, with employee roadkill collateral damage in pursuit of the dream. The money now spent solely to secure advertising is the size of the entire KUT budget when Vanderwilt took over. The station may boast a budget three times that of San Antonio (and still somehow be not enough), but look what you’ve got when the bill becomes due: the new reality in your public radio station, where the soul purpose [sic] is maximizing market share, completing the overpass to the dealers of luxury automobiles and the landed gentry. Where once it was said that “KUT seeks out music that isn’t promoted, packaged, or hyped, music you wouldn’t find without us,” now it’s what’s hot nationwide and being played everywhere, what’s on the charts, what advertisers will pay to support. We’ve come a long way to go nowhere at all.

Thank you to KUT’s Erin Geisler for clearing up, sorta-kinda, Question # 10, below. That’s one question honestly answered, out of 14 Questions asked. We patiently await KUT’s answers to the 13 important questions that remain.

“I Know What I Know” – Paul Simon, with Ladysmith Black Mambazo

14 Questions for KUT

1. How can the community have an ongoing conversation with KUT on the future direction of KUT music programming? Based on the spontaneous formation of our organization and listener reactions on the SaveKUTAustin website and Facebook group, it is clear to us the community seems concerned with music programming changes and management decisions.

2. Why does KUT management think it’s important to create continuity between the daytime music programs and the nighttime programs? Where is the diversity if nighttime music programs sound like daytime music programs?

3. Why is there so much apparent dependence on ratings? Arbitron Ratings are used by commercial stations to better help them sell advertising. How many times has KUT surveyed its contributors—or even its listeners — to ask what they think the programming should reflect? Can KUT management provide examples of those surveys?

4. Why are DJs no longer allowed to produce free-form programs, constructing sets entirely from their personal knowledge and creativity? Who is on the Music Committee that dictates what music does or does not end up in the music library, as well as which songs must be played regularly?

5. Why isn’t KUT taking advantage of Austin’s international eminence as the Live Music Capital of the World? We believe there could be a significant opportunity for syndicating Paul Ray’s Jazz and Phil Music for NPR or PRI, rather than focusing on an already ubiquitous AAA radio format that doesn’t distinguish Austin from L. A.

6. When does KUT plan to publish its 2008 and 2009 annual reports? The most recent annual report available is from 2007. Where are the audits for the past nine years, and why can’t the public, who provide 85% of KUT’s operating capital, access them?

7. Are monies collected from local listeners and underwriters being reserved for the new state-of-the-art KUT studio we hear about? With the understanding that KUT has in excess of $3 million set aside for the new building and studio, what are the fundraising plans and goals of KUT to secure the remaining monies needed for the building and equipment to make it a reality? Will monies be requested from Belo Corp or the PUF?

8. How much has been paid to Public Radio Partners this year and each year over the past nine years?

9. How much has been paid to public relations firm Elizabeth Christian & Associates this year and each year over the past nine years? What specific objectives and projects has EC&A been tasked to work on each year?

10. What is the role now of former Program Director Jody Evans, who recently resigned, moved back to Vermont, and has apparently been hired by KUT as a consultant? How much is she paid?

11. What is the total cost of the HD radio channels, both in manpower and in programming? In light of HD radio’s failure to gain acceptance, does management plan to re-evaluate the expenditure to determine if it is an acceptable cost?

12. Does anyone currently working for KUT receive any income from any source involved in any way with radio or the media in general, other than the approved KUT budget?

13. We understand a long-range planning process is underway for KUT. What plans does KUT management have for including community listeners, underwriters, and creative local artists in the input of the station’s future programming? If a long-range plan is adopted, will the plan be a “guide” for management, or will it be a “roadmap” for management implementation?

14. How is KUT’s key management evaluated? Who evaluates the General Manager’s overall performance?

SO! Any word on what will be heard on 107.1FM or will it just be another simulcast?

Good luck Austin!
jim radio
Accra, Ghana

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Oh, OK. So that’s what’s been cooking in the corporate back kitchens! The news of a planned corporate shakeup of Austin’s radio landscape has been released. Did anybody, outside of the players privy to the information, see this coming?

This could be a move that would address some of the concerns expressed by the SaveKUTAustin group and it’s supporters, or could be a guarantee of 2 stations that will now suck, on the left of the dial, if Ennis doesn’t come up with something worthy of being  considered the Austin radio station that truly reflects the community it serves, and not a set of Arbitron numbers and/or NPR mandates.

I am writing to voice my intense dissatisfaction with the recent changes in KUT’s programming. First, let me state that I’m well below the average listening age – I’m under 30 – the group that you’re apparently targeting with the recent music programming changes on your station. I’ve commiserated at length about the ‘new’ KUT with my friends and fellow graduate students (also in their 20’s and 30’s). We are all saddened by the recent changes, and my comments echo many of theirs. I’ve been a public radio listener since I was a kid. My ‘home station’ is KERA 90.1 in Dallas/Fort Worth. Even though I listened to that station for over two decades, its nothing compared to KUT Austin. I moved here to go to graduate school at UT in 2004 and I’ve been glued to KUT from the second I got here. I listened at work, at home, in the car, online, all the time. What really set KUT apart for me was the amount of local programming, especially the phenomenal music programming that didn’t sound like ‘normal’ commercial radio. I like many of the nationally-known artists frequented on commercial stations, but you can hear those artists on any station, in any city, in any state. KUT music programming has expanded my musical horizons in ways I can hardly do justice to describe. I love that it’s not a station like KERA filled with syndicated talk programming all day, and I’m sad that KUT is becoming a little more like that with every little change you make.

Though I’ve been a ‘starving’ grad student all this time, I’ve pledged what I could during pledge drives, usually at the $40-$60 level. My husband and I are both music fans and amateur musicians, and the appeal of Austin, for us, lies in the richness of the live/local music culture and the general attitude of keeping things local. I’d much rather you keep our money in the city by hiring local DJ’s for the overnight programs and focusing on local and diverse programming. You’ve certainly got the capability, equipment, and expertise to do so. We had been looking forward to the day when we would have ‘real jobs’ and would settle down in Austin and become really big contributors to KUT. Sadly, we now listen to KUT about 50-60% less than we used to and did not contribute during the most recent pledge drive (though it nearly killed us to not call in).

In particular, I am sincerely heartbroken that Paul Rays Jazz had been removed from the air. Paul Ray’s Jazz was NOT just boring old jazz standards – I got introduced to a whole new world of music that I’d never experienced before I came to Austin. It became a regular Tuesday and Wednesday night ritual in our household to crank up the jazz and become more musically educated in this genre. Without this show, we try in vain to replicate the experience ourselves, but our jazz library is very limited, and our expertise can never equal Paul Ray’s. The syndication-o-rama that is KUT3 is no substitute – even if we had the ability to tune in on a digital radio. Blue Monday, Twine Time, Folkways (when hosts actually play what I would consider folk music), Horizontes and World Music have also made enormous contributions to our musical acumen. Don’t touch them. These are invaluable shows that educate listeners about specific genres and provide weekly variety, which to me is the essence of public radio. Eklektikos, Music with Jay Trachtenberg and Left of the Dial are first-rate non-specialty shows that do an extraordinary job of introducing all kinds of music, including contemporary and local, to the listenership of KUT. Music with Matt Reilly plays some good tunes, but it’s really nothing to write home about and does not warrant three nights per week. Once would be satisfactory. It is devastating that we are losing the superb specialty shows and DJ’s that make our local programming unique and legendary!

Since I don’t want this to be entirely negative, I must compliment the additions of Sunday Folkways and Across the Water to the KUT lineup. Please don’t ever lose Ed Miller! However, the Saturday Folkways is starting to play a lot of music that is clearly not folk music – and its becoming more homogeneous with other non-specialty programming. Obviously, different hosts have different favorites in the folk music genre, but please keep this a folk-music oriented show.

With all of this in mind, I’d appreciate some straight answers to the following questions. If you’re simply going to regurgitate the talking points I’ve seen repeated in response to other listener letters, please don’t bother to respond.

1) I would like to see full financial reports from the station for the past decade. Where is this information located and when will newer (post-2007) financial information be made available?

2) You cite budgetary restraints as the reason for cutting hours and benefits for local DJ’s. Were these DJ’s not meeting the fundraising goals to keep their shows going? Please show me the data.

3) How does KUT estimate listenership and how do you determine listener satisfaction and support for programs? I did not participate in the most recent UT-oriented survey regarding KUT because I felt the questions were chosen in a way that did not allow me to fully express my satisfaction with UT. The survey seemed designed so as to gather the answers the management wanted, and there was no free-response section.

4) Was there a lot of public feedback/pressure about changing the mid-week (T-W-Th) evening programming? Why choose to replace legendary Austin programming with a little-known DJ playing similar music all three nights? I can see giving a new, contemporary non-specialty show a chance one night per week – but all three nights mid-week is ridiculous.

5) Why have you found it necessary to ‘increase continuity’ between daytime and evening programming? When you watch public television – do you want to have all of your evening programming be reruns of daytime programming? The viewers certainly wouldn’t appreciate this. They’d change the channel – and KUT listeners like me don’t appreciate or understand your need to ‘increase continuity’ of (=homogenize=decrease diversity of) the music programming. This is not MTV or the Top-100.

6) Does it really cost more to pay local DJ’s than get syndicated non-local programming? Please show me the data.

7) How much money does it cost to support the two digital stations that you recently put on the air? Was there a lot of public pressure to add digital stations? Isn’t the listenership much lower for those stations? Even though I’m fairly young and technology-oriented, I don’t have an HD radio receiver and am unlikely to purchase one – they are expensive and aren’t even coming standard in new vehicles. Wouldn’t you rather I give you pledge money than spend it on an HD receiver? How can you justify the cost of these stations for the very few people who have the ability to listen to them? Again, show me the data please.

In conclusion, if you want a younger generation of members to become loyal contributors to the station, you’ll have to give us a reason to pledge and keep pledging. In my opinion, the recent changes and management decisions have lost my trust and commitment to this radio station. Until I feel I can trust the KUT management to represent the listenership and Austin’s local and musical heritage, I will not be contributing financially to KUT. I sincerely hope you’ll reinstate at least one evening of Paul Ray’s Jazz, in addition to the local overnight programming and benefits for Larry and Paul.

Sincerely,
Hayley Gillespie

Graduate Student
Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution & Behavior
University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station C0930
Austin, Texas 78712
(512)964-0841
hayleygillespie@mail.utexas.edu

Robin Shivers, co-founder of HAAM, the Health Alliance of Austin Musicians and a friend of Austin musicians, has passed away.

“I’m Gonna Live Forever” – Joe Ely Band

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